It was only a matter of time until mega-publisher Zynga grabbed a piece of collectible card game action, and the end-result is an exceptionally well-polished – if not particularly original – take on the genre. That hasn't stopped a huge number of gamers from downloading War of the Fallen, and if you're in need of some useful hints and tips, read our beginner's guide.

-Which stats you prioritize as you level up depends very much on what kind of player you are. If you don't want to spend money in the game but want a decent burst of action every day, invest points into your Stamina so you can play for longer, at the expensive of power and resistance. If you have money to burn, you should invest points in Attack or Defense depending on the quality of your deck.

-In order to complete treasure collections, you’ll need to either acquire items through combat in the single-player campaign, or take on other players in the multiplayer mode. To find a "victim", tap on the missing icon in your collection and you'll be taken to a list of players who own that item. Make sure your deck is in top fighting condition, and choose your fights wisely – there's no point picking a battle with a player many levels higher than you.

-You have two decks to manage in the game, and it's critical that you stay on top of each one. Your Attack Deck is used to go into battle against the AI in the single-player game, while your Defense Deck is there to automatically take on any human opponents who are after items from your own treasured collections.

-Don't forget to review new cards for your deck from time to time by checking into the Card Manager section of the game. Here you can remove weak cards from your current line-up by tapping them, then slot in a better card that you might have picked up during your travels.

-When building your deck, it's important to be aware that you can only field so many cards at any one time. This is measured by something called your Attack Mana, a limit that you can see at the top-right hand corner of the deck management screen. The number to the right of the jar shows your maximum Attack Mana, and as you tap through new cards, you'll see the number on the left change to reflect its impact on your attacking capability.

-If you've picked up some duff cards during your battles, you've got two choices. Either you can sell them for gold, which is handy for performing upgrades, or you can use the Strengthen option to improve the performance of another, better card. You can access this option from the Card Management section of the game, and from there you can sacrifice your weakest cards.

-There's strength in numbers. If you want to take advantage of some extra-special combat benefits, you should definitely look into joining a Guild. This provides you with a bonus known as Guild Force, which increases the chance of Card Skills being triggered during battle. When looking for a Guild, try to find one with a lot of active members, as this will also enhance the strength of the Guild Force. Alternatively, you can create your own Guild and team up with friends or other people who you know will be particularly active.

-Card Evolution is a process where you combine two identical cards in order to create a remaining card that is considerably more powerful. This can cost quite a bit of gold, so be selective with the cards you Evolve, and sell your weakest cards to fund your Evolutions.